


2009

by cara797



Series: A Traveller's Home [1]
Category: Glue - Fandom, e4Glue
Genre: Age Difference, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-17
Updated: 2014-10-22
Packaged: 2018-02-21 13:01:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2469122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cara797/pseuds/cara797
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cal and James meet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. September

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own any of these characters.
> 
>  
> 
> _A TRAVELLER'S HOME_ series:
> 
> ♦ Part 1: 2009  
> 
> 
>   * Part 2: [ 2010](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2494409/chapters/5536556)  
> 
>   * Part 3: [2011](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2685392/chapters/6007493)  
> 
>   * Part 4: 2012  
> 
>   * Part 5: 2013  
> 
>   * Part 6: 2014
> 


**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cal and James meet.

The problem with being younger than the rest of them was that Cal always felt like he was missing out on something, the four, sometimes five years of advantage they had on him meant that he was usually lost when someone made a private joke, or when they talked about this teacher or the other or about their mutual friends. In those times Tina usually filled him in or tried to tell him the story from the beggining, sometimes to Eli as well, but it still felt foreign and strange to him. Like a second hand jumper he had that never quite fitted him right and smelt awful, no matter how many times he washed it. 

How and why they had ended up where they were, but specially why they'd stayed was a bit of a mystery. Tin Tin had been the first one. He didn't remember the exact date she came to the caravan camp, clutching in her hand a horse's rein and guiding it firmly forward. A short, slim girl, didn't look older than thirteen or fourteen. Her face was stained with a million freckles and her clothes and boots matched, stained with mud. Her hair dishevelled and her riding hat hanging loose in the crack of her elbow. Her lips were pursed with something like fear and wariness as she gazed at the caravans behind the younger boy. Cal had said hello, and she had responded, the uneven and trembling quality of her voice breaking her calm and composed facade.

"I've lost my class, this was the first time we went outside the stables' fields and I can't find the way back, do you have a phone I can borrow so I can call someone to pick me up?"

She looked doubtful and talked slowly, as if she didn't know if Cal could fully understand English or maybe as if he didn't know what a phone was. The younger boy was about to spit in the floor, near her riding boots and maybe say some phrase in Romany to scare her off but Eli had approached them silently from their caravan while she talked and had shot a Cal a warning look. Tina had looked at him with a relieved glow in her eyes. The phantom of a smile dancing around her lips.

"You work at the stables, don't you?". 

Eli had nodded, never taking his eyes away from her, cautious.

"He carries the horses' shit out, yes" Cal had remarked and he hadn't been fast enough to avoid Eli's kick to his shin, "and he smells like it as well" Cal was rewarded with a insult in Romany and a smack to the head.

"I know the way to the stables, I can take you and Lucy back" Eli had said, this time in English, and he'd reached out to stroke the black mare's nose. At the sudden movement, Tina had tried to draw the mare back and away from Eli's touch but the animal had huffed, sniffed Eli's hand for a moment and let him touch her. Tina had looked at him with narrowed eyes, "She's usually very skittish" she quickly changed her surprised face to a conceited one "I am one of the few people who can get near enough to saddle her"

"Yeah, well, I guess we've bonded over horse shit" and Eli had smiled, small and privy and he had got closer, caressing the animal's dark hair. "I reckon if we mount her now, we'll get to the stables before it gets dark". Tina had doubted for a minute, looked at Cal, whose face was impassive. After all, he was not about to tell her that Eli had ridden a horse a total amount of two times in his entire life and schooled his features in a smile he hoped was a cute one. She nodded at Eli's proposition at last, so it might have been. She had effortlessly got on the mare's back afterwards and Eli had followed her, a little bit slowler and clumsier.

"I'm Tina, by the way" she'd said looking over her shoulder.

"Eli" he'd replied and considering that enough introductions, he circled the girl's waist with his arms to hold the reins a bit higher than her, he had pulled at them and yelled "Come on!" at the horse which had obeyed the order immediatly and started trotting away.

And after Tina came Annie and Rob. Not to the caravan camp though but rather to Tina's backyard and she had invited Eli over, too and Cal had tagged along. And after the third time doing so and after Annie had taken to pinching the younger one's cheeks, Eli had stopped trying to make him stay at the travellers' camp with threats and insults and one memorable time, throwing pebbles at him.  
Honestly, Cal had friends back in the camp, had things to do, but Tina was new, and he sometimes got bored at how everything was always exactly the same around the caravan camp. So he kept coming a few times but they were always talking about things he didn't care about and people he didn't know and it was during those first days that he realized for the first time how different their life was from his. It was obvious what Eli was after, and by the way Tina smiled at them he could tell Eli would finally get to ride horses at the stables and not only take care of their rubbish. There was nothing in it for him though, and he did not like at all how Tina looked at them sometimes, with something too much like pity. And anyway, the only thing they did was talk and drink and smoke. Nothing he couldn't do back home. He had told himself he wouldn't be coming back again when, the fourth day, a cloudy, surprisingly warm Saturday afternoon, someone else had showed up. He had light brown hair and eyes that looked like a deer's, frozen in the road in front of the headlights. He had a big mouth, that grew even wider when he smiled. But above all he was extremely shy and he winced when Rob, at seeing him entering through the back gate screamed "JIM JAMS!". The new guy plastered a tiny smile on and approached the group "Where have you been, mate?"

Cal resented the fact that he was younger because he felt like he was trying to keep up with them but couldn't, like they were all walking normally but he wasn't able to catch up even if he ran after them. But specially, he hated to be younger because the gang had been formed a while ago, with their stupid nicknames (seriously, Jim Jams? That must have been Rob's brilliant idea), and their fucking nursery memories. He (and Eli, too) didn't quite belong. But this boy right now in front of him looked like maybe he didn't fit in either. He made him wonder why exactly he didn't, made him want to find out.

Maybe he'd be coming back after all...

"For fuck's sake, Rob!" said an amused Tina "He had his appendicitis surgery two days ago".

...even if he had to put up with the huge prick Rob was.


	2. October

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James visits the travellers' camp.

James Warwick was extremely shy and quiet. He seemed to enjoy being around his friends and hearing them talk but he didn't say much himself. He seemed quite content just watching everyone do their thing, looking up to everyone like they'd put the moon in the sky and he didn't once notice Cal observing him observe the others.

The thing was, the youngest boy hadn't decided yet whether he liked James or not. His meek disposition bordered on simple-minded. But then he'd talk, usually so faintly that only whoever was beside him (and always watchful Cal) would hear it and it would be something so perfectly put into words, so witty and solemn at the same time that there'd be no doubt that the soft nature of his face and the gentleness of his hands weren't a charade.

Cal didn't really know if it was because he had been raised as a gypsy or if Eli was as obsessed by it as him but he had learnt from a very early age that people tend to lie every day of their lives. This discovery had been a tough blow to seven-year-old, mush-brained, naïve Caleb Bray. And since then he had been haunted by it, doubting everyone and everything and he had taken it upon himself to decipher if someone was honest or not. Whether it was the till guy at Nando's or his own father.

This is why he wanted to figure James out. He'd done it fairly quickly with the rest. Annie seemed truthful enough with her child-like innocence, Tina had that look in her eyes like she could spoon your eyeballs out of your face but she was loyal, and Rob was too thick to lie without it being obvious, and a weak liar was just as good as a reliable person.

It was just taking him longer than usual, and it might have been bugging him a bit. So he had started following James around.

And honestly, for all the time Cal had spent trying to figure out when James was going to be where without being too obvious about it or asking him straight away, when James' turn had come around, he had been pretty blunt.  
Whereas the younger boy had spent an entire month asking Eli who was going to be at Rob's house next Friday or who was he meeting after horse training, purposely overhearing conversations between Annie and Tina and subtly fishing for information with more or less sucess, James had spoken up, candid and straight-forward one late afternoon when he was about to leave the bench near the church they would later proclaim theirs by carving their names into the wood with Eli's penknife.

He had approached Cal, who was intently listening and laughing at the story Tin Tin was telling them about a boy in her and Eli's riding class who had slipped off his saddle, and landed on top of a pile of horse dung whilst Eli mimicked the guy's reaction which included loads of retching and sobbing,

James had been chewing on the zip of his coat in an useless attempt to stop his teeth from chatering when he tapped Cal's shoulder. When the gypsy boy turned around, James had asked him when was he going to be at the travellers' camp. Cal had felt an odd convulsion in his chest, where his heart should have been and he had responded, a little bit too harshly "Well, I live there, don't I? I'm there pretty much all the time". And James had recoiled two steps like he'd been physically shoved away and then smiled, a very tiny smile. "Right, see you around then", and afterwards repeated a bit louder, "See you, guys". Cal had been on the brink of going after him and explaining to him that his surprised voice sounded very much like his angry voice but Rob and Annie's combined yells saying their goodbyes had knocked him out for a moment too long and when he had looked again, James was already gone.

The next time he saw him, a couple of days later, Cal was looking through the caravan window at the clouds above them that threatened a storm, and had spotted the gorgio boy walking down the camp with a hobbling man by his side. Cal had ran outside just in time to see his grandpa shaking hands with the strange man. When James had seen him, he had waved at him sheepishly. Cal's grandfather had followed James' eyes and had told his grandson in Romani to "put some sodding shoes on" before walking away with the limping man. Cal had looked down at that. Huh. He hadn't noticed.

James got closer, smiling faintly, and upon seeing Cal's bewildered face, had frowned. "What, you don't know?" Cal was barefoot and James was looking at him so intently that he felt like maybe the weight of his greyish look would make him sink down in the mud. He shook his head "My father wants one of our best mares to breed and he's talking with your grandpa about crossing her with his stallion."

"Ah, Baxtalo".

That horse was by far, the most precious thing his family owned. He was a healthy, huge, proud beast. His grandfather had acquired him when he was traveling north a few years ago from a farmer who had told him that the motherless colt would most likely soon die and he couldn't afford the time or money to take care of it until then so he'd given him up for a really good price. Cal's grandfather had always told them that gorgios were blind, could never see what the Universe was shouting at them. Had always told them that stupid man hadn't seen the stuborness and wildness in the newborn's eyes but he had and that's why he had taken him back home.

Against all odds, the foal survived the harsh winter and Cal's grandad started to take him into town every Saturday and Sunday afternoon to give rides to little children and make some money. But the constant mane-yanking and flank-kicking and yelling from the little brats had turned him into a sour, fretful and malicious horse that started biting the children that even got near him and bucking anyone who dared to mount him.

It was only his grandfather whose company the horse tolerated and he was the only horse that Eli had ever ridden before Tina had come along. That is, if holding on for dear life to the animal's mane for less than a minute before being thrown to the ground could be called riding.

"So that's why you wanted to know when I'd be here?" Cal threw the question over his shoulder as he walked back to his caravan to put some shoes on.

James jogged after him and replied "Yeah, my dad wants me to come with him to this kind of thing, you know? Expects me to take his place at the stables one day."

Cal hummed in response, holding the caravan's door open for him and for the first time ever, as he looked around the messy, tiny caravan searching for his shoes, he felt self-conscious. Not many gorgios came to the camp, much less to his caravan. He had seen Tina and Rob's houses and if James' was half of what they were, he would probably start looking at him like most people did. Pityingly at best, disgusted, more commonly.

While he rashly put on his worn-out trainers, James looked around and murmured. "You are so lucky to be able to leave whenever you want".

Cal stopped short and looked at him through his fringe. The other boy was feeling the chipped paint in the wall. He remained silent as he tied up his shoelaces.

They didn't talk much on their way to Baxtalo's plot either but James didn't seem to mind. His father and Cal's grandpa were already there, talking by the wire fence. Some little kids were there as well, watching curiously, as the strange man entered the plot and how the horse puffed loudly in annoyance.

Cal tutted. That man was out of his mind if he thought he could get hold of that animal. James looked over at him with worry in his face and clutched the fence when the horse reared in an effort to make the intruder leave but James' father kept approaching him until the horse, feeling trapped, escaped at full gallop to the other side of the field. Cal's grandpa screamed at the man to let it be but he wasn't listening.

The horse grew more nervous by the second, huffing and stomping his hooves on the ground angrily. And suddenly, he turned away from the man and kicked his legs out. James' dad was fast enough, even with his stiff leg, to move away but he lost balance and fell on his arse. James surged forward, starting to climb over the fence but Cal yanked him back by his coat.

The horse went as far as possible from the gorgio and the man stood up on wobbly legs and turned around to walk to the fence and go out, a huge smile on his face.

He put an arm over the old gypsy man's shoulder and guided him back to his caravan, talking excitedly. The only thing Cal caught was "We'll bring the mare here, since we can't make the horse go anywhere!"

James saw his dad leave and sighed. "I don't know how I feel about having the offspring of this beast in our stables".

Cal narrowed his eyes. Should he feel offended by that? Should he take it as a metaphor for gypsies and gorgios? Before he could decide, James spoke again.

"I mean, I have to admit, that is the most beautiful horse I've seen, and I have had my fair share of horsies, eh?" he looked at Cal, smiled. Turned around to look at Baxtalo again. "Look at him, so graceful, so vain. And he won't take its eyes from us. It's like he's giving us a show." he patted his hair out of his eyes. "And he wouldn't let my dad near him. He's free, he knows and wants it to remain that way."

Cal listened and didn't respond, looking at the horse, too, and thinking to himself that that was probably the most words he had heard James put together since he knew him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Baxtalo" means "lucky" in Romani (according to the Internet, which might or might not be accurate...), sorry if I messed up and it means something completely different, and please do tell me if there are any mistakes in this chapter (still looking for a beta~).
> 
> Thanks for reading/commenting/leaving kudos!


End file.
